“That Thing Will Do Something To Your Mental If You’re Doing It For Too Long”
March 23rd, 2021
Shaq Barrett’s NFL career began as a perennial winner. The Bucs sacks king played for Broncos teams that had winning records in 2014, 2015 and in 2016, their last Super Bowl season.
But then Denver stunk for two seasons and Shaq bolted for Tampa Bay. After a 7-9 Bucs finish in 2019, followed by another Super Bowl win last season, Shaq decided he can’t return to losing, so he explained on The Colinsworth Podcast last week.
Incessant losing breaks players, Shaq said. “That thing will do something to your mental if you’re doing it for too long.”
Man, Joe heard that and couldn’t help but think of Lavonte David, Mike Evans, Will Gholston, Donovan Smith and Ali Marpet. Those guys endured so much losing through The Lost Decade. Before last season, Joe often wondered whether the stench of all that defeat infected them and, subsequently, the Bucs’ locker room.
But in came the hazmat team over the last two seasons, led by guys like Tom Brady, Rob Gronkowski and Ndamukong Suh, and even furniture-hurling, bicycle-throwing Antonio Brown. Now the Bucs are winners and fans have been healed.
Joe agrees with Shaq wholeheartedly. Joe can attest that so many years of losing “will do something to your mental.”
The joyful healing continues at JoeBucsFan.com world headquarters.
March 23rd, 2021 at 8:55 am
What the Bucs pulled-off in less than a year was monumental & just 1 reason why the National Media cannot stop talking about them
March 23rd, 2021 at 9:00 am
healing is an understatement…lol…more like a miracle…
GO BUCS!!!
March 23rd, 2021 at 9:15 am
My mental needs another Super Bowl win to fully heal!
March 23rd, 2021 at 9:16 am
Those guys knew…..they would never win with Winston turning the ball over 2-3x per game. They also knew they had the talent to win if that one issue could be fixed. Arians knew as well. In the NFL, real recognizes real. Winston isn’t what he believes he is and vets weren’t buying into his message when he’s the biggest reason they kept losing. It was one thing to be a rookie learning the NFL….its another when you are in yr 5, on your 3rd coach who happens to be considered a QB guru and you throw 30 INTs.
March 23rd, 2021 at 9:27 am
When a positive force like Tom Brady came to the Bucs it took time for the team to shed it’s “losing image.” The losing-negative-mentality Bucs were 7 and 5 at the start of the season, but the positive Brady effect changed the team’s losing mentality into “Super Bowl champs.” The positive Brady effect will help the Bucs win another Super Bowl because a positive mentality can achieve anything you believe…just ask Tom Brady.
March 23rd, 2021 at 9:30 am
When games stop meaning anything in late October . . .
March 23rd, 2021 at 9:47 am
I would say it but I’m not gonna say it.
March 23rd, 2021 at 10:05 am
Tom Brady and company came to Tampa, and put the Den Of Depression on Prozac!
March 23rd, 2021 at 10:33 am
I hadn’t realized it had affected my mental ! I had become sort of numb, going to games unstressed because if you win it’s a fun bonus of the experience , whereas losing was not unexpected !
My mental was f-ed !!
March 23rd, 2021 at 10:41 am
Downloaded this particular podcast…thanks for the heads up Joe. Shaq sounds like a helluva good dude…humble…yet still hungry. Money well spent in gems of the salary cap. He earned it.
March 23rd, 2021 at 10:41 am
As suspected the culture was rotten. Who fixed it, the GOAT or the Millennial Whisperer?
Both!!
March 23rd, 2021 at 11:00 am
IT IS A BUCS WORLD BABY IN NFL 2021!!!! GO BUCS!!!!
March 23rd, 2021 at 11:12 am
Winning begets winning and losing begets losing. Prior to Arians/Brady, the only time the Bucs had a winning mindset was under Father Tony Dungy. He was the first, and I would argue only (prior to Arians), coach that consistently was able to instill a winning mindset and culture. He wasn’t able to get over the final hump with Tampa, but he changed the culture.
When Gruden came in, he got the Bucs over that hump. For that one magical season, he challenged and pushed his team to become better and to expect more. After his first season, The Bucs became mediocre. Gruden wasn’t able to keep the winning mindset. I think a part of that comes from his unending fasciation with players on other rosters. He was always pining for a better QB and often made comments about how great other RBs were. Even when he had one fo the best backs in Bucs history! In my opinion, the players grew to distrust Gruden, which changed the mindset. Father Dungy had the better winning percentage and a higher percentage of winning seasons that Gruden.
My hope is that the change in culture under Arians/Brady rubs off on the current players and that they are able to carry it forward after Arians and Brady are no longer Buccaneers.
March 23rd, 2021 at 2:04 pm
Hallelujah! Winning heals all wounds, but the scars remain from pretty much the entire Culverhouse reign and when the Glazers treated our team as an afterthought for a few years after Chucky was fired.
March 23rd, 2021 at 5:38 pm
Hey Joe,
Please update the picture. The uniforms are hideous and not worn anymore. Thanks.